The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 Animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21st, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth feature in the Disney Animated Canon, the film is loosely based on Victor Hugo's novel of the same name, but changed most of its substance to make it more family-friendly. The plot centers on Esmeralda, the gypsy dancer, Claude Frollo, a powerful and ruthless Minister of Justice who lusts after her and plans to commit genocide by killing all of the gypsies that live in Paris, Quasimodo, the protagonist, Notre Dame's kindhearted and deformed bell-ringer, who adores her (and struggles to gain acceptance into society as well as save the gypsies who live in Paris from Frollo who plans to kill them all), and Phoebus, the chivalrous but irreverent military captain, who holds affections for her. The film was directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, directors of Beauty and the Beast, and produced by Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. The animation screenplay was written by Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts, who has previously worked on The Lion King, and Tab Murphy, Bob Tsudiker and Noni White, who would go on to write the screenplay for Tarzan. The songs for the musical film were composed by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz and the film featured the voices of Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, Paul Kandel, Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough, Mary Wickes (in her final film role) and David Ogden Stiers. It belongs to the era known as Disney Renaissance. The Hunchback of Notre Dame premiered on June 19, 1996 at the New Orleans Superdome and was released worldwide in June 21, 1996. It received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, earning over $325 million worldwide. A direct-to-video sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, was released in 2002. Plot The movie opens in 1482 Paris with Clopin, a Gypsy puppeteer, telling a group of children the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The story begins as three gypsies sneak illegally into Paris but are ambushed by a squadron of soldier-like thugs working for Judge Claude Frollo, the Minister of Justice and Dr facto ruler of Paris. A gypsy woman attempts to flee with her baby, but Frollo, thinking the woman is carrying stolen goods, catches and kills her just outside Notre Dame, intending to kill her deformed baby (Frollo says to the Archdeacon that the baby is "an unholy demon" and that he is "sending it back to Hell where it belongs"), but the Archdeacon appears and accuses him of murdering an innocent woman. Frollo denies that he is in the wrong saying his conscience is clear, but the Archdeacon declared he can lie to himself all he wants, but he cannot hide his crime from Heaven ('the eyes of Notre Dame', the statues of the saints outside the cathedral). Fearing for his soul and to atone for his sin, Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the deformed child in the Cathedral's bell tower as his son, naming him Quasimodo. He notes that someday the child may have use for him. Twenty years later, Quasimodo has developed into a kind yet isolated young man with three gargoyles as his only company, constantly told by Frollo that he is a monster who would be rejected by the uncaring outside world. Despite these warnings, Quasimodo sneaks out of the Cathedral to attend the Feast of Fools, where he is crowned King of Fools but immediately humiliated by the crowd when Frollo's thugs start a riot. Frollo, in the audience, refuses to help Quasimodo, and the crowd only stops when a kind and beautiful gypsy Esmeralda freed Quasimodo from his restraints and openly defies Frollo. She then throws the crown at Frollo, deeming him to be the biggest fool. The judge immediately orders her arrested, but she escaped by means of illusions, which Frollo refers to as "witchcraft". Frollo confronts Quasimodo and sends him back inside the Cathedral. Esmeralda follows Quasimodo to find him, but she herself is followed by Phoebus, Frollo's Captain of the Guard. Phoebus, who himself does not approve of Frollo's methods, refuses to arrest her inside the Cathedral, saying that she has claimed 'Sanctuary' and thus cannot be arrested as long as she remains in Notre Dame. Frollo finally leaves when the Archdeacon intervenes, but not before earning Esmeralda that his men will capture her the moment she attempts to escape the Cathedral. Esmeralda finds Quasimodo in the bell tower and befriends him. As gratitude for helping him in the crowd, Quasimodo helps Esmeralda escape Notre Dame. In return, she leaves him with a map to the gypsy hideout, the Court of Miracles, should be ever choose to leave Notre Dame again. Frollo himself begins to realize his lustful feelings for Esmeralda and wishes to be free of them to escape eternal damnation. He soon learns of Esmeralda's escape and instigates a city-wide manhunt for her, which involves burning down countless houses in his path. Realizing that Frollo has lost his mind, Phoebus defies the judge by saving an innocent family, as Frollo orders him executed for treason, but is assisted in escape by Esmeralda. After being hit with an arrow, Phoebus falls into the Seine River and is left for dead by Frollo, but he is rescued by Esmeralda, who takes him to Quasimodo for refuge. Frollo soon returns to the Cathedral, forcing Quasimodo to hide Phoebus. Discovering that Quasimodo helped Esmeralda escape, the judge bluffs that he knows where the Court of Miracles is and that he intends to attack it at dawn with a battalion. After he leaves, Phoebus requests Quasimodo's help in finding the Court of Miracles before Frollo; though reluctant he agreed to join. Using the map Esmeralda left, they find it and are almost hung by Clopin for being spies, but they are saved when Esmeralda intervened and clears up the misunderstanding. Phoebus tried to get the Court to retreat as Frollo plans to invade; however, Frollo's army appears and captured them all, with the judge revealing that he followed Phoebus and Quasimodo. Frollo then orders Esmeralda burned at the stake after she refuses his proposal of her becoming his mistress. Frollo gets a torch and burns the wheat Esmeralda is standing on and she starts coughing and then she goes unconscious. Quasimodo, chained up in the bell tower, initially refuses to help under depression, but when he sees Esmeralda in pain, he gives in to his anger and rescues her, bringing her to the cathedral and yelling 'Sanctuary!'. As Frollo grabs his sword and orders his men to attack the cathedral, Phoebus ignites a rebellion among the people of Paris who have had enough of Frollo's tyranny and a battle ensues in the street between the citizenry and Frollo's thug army. Quasimodo places Esmeralda's unconscious body on a bed and pours a cauldron on molten copper into the streets to ensure nobody gets inside. Frollo, however, manages to break in and force his way past the Archdeacon. Quasimodo, believing Esmeralda to be dead, breaks down in tears beside her body as Frollo comes into the room to kill him with a dagger. Quasimodo, in his fury, disarms his former guardian and finally rejects all that Frollo has taught him. Esmeralda wakes up, alive, and Quasimodo grabs her and flees. The deranged judge chases them into the balcony, where he attacks Quasimodo and Esmeralda with his sword. The battle ends with Frollo maniacally quoting the Bible and he and Quasimodo both falling from the balcony. As Frollo falls to his death, Quasimodo also falls but is caught by Phoebus on a lower floor, and the three friends reunite. As the citizens celebrate their victory over Frollo, Quasimodo reluctantly emerges from the Cathedral to face the populace again, only this time, he is hailed as a hero and is finally accepted into society. Cast and characters *Quasimodo (voiced by Tom Hulce) - The protagonist of the film. He is courageous, kindly, and enthusiastic. He is the bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral. He is physically deformed with a hunched back and is constantly told by his guardian Judge Claude Frollo that he is an ugly monster who will never be accepted by the world outside. However, the opening song asks listeners to judge for themselves "who is the monster, and who is the man" of the two. *Esmeralda (voiced by Demi Moore, singing voice by Heidi Mollenhauer) - The deuteragonist of the film. A beautiful, streetwise and talented gypsy girl who befriends Quasimodo and shows him that his soul is truly beautiful, even if his exterior isn't. She is incredibly independent and greatly dislikes the horrible ways in which gypsies are treated. Throughout the movie, Esmeralda attempts to seek justice for her people. She falls in love with Captain Phoebus and helps Quasimodo understand that gypsies are good people. 'Esmeralda ' is the Spanish and Portuguese word for 'Emerald', which may be why the animators chose to give her emerald green eyes. *Claude Frollo (voiced by Tony Jay) - The main antagonist of the film. A ruthless and powerful judge who is Quasimodo's reluctant guardian. He also lusts after Esmeralda for which he feels shame but is willing to kill her if she rejects him. Frollo generally does not see any evil in his deeds as he does them in honor of God, even though the Archdeacon often disapproves of his actions, which would make him more of an anti-villain than a full on villain like Jafar or Maleficent. However, at one point during the song "Hellfire", the priests singing the Confiteor manifest as his conscience, chanting the Latin words "mea culpa" ( "my fault"), to reveal that Frollo ultimately knows the truth of his actions. *Captain Phoebus (voiced by Kevin Kline) - A soldier who is Frollo's Captain of the Guard and the tritagonist of the film. He falls in love with (and later marries) Esmeralda. He is a heroic idealist with integrity and does not approve of what Frollo thinks or does. This distinguishes him severely from his character in the original story. *Clopin (voiced by Paul Kandel) - The mischievous leader of the gypsies who will defend his people at all costs. He introduces the audience to the story, explaining how Quasimodo, the bell-ringer from Notre Dame, got to be there. *Victor, Hugo, and Laverne (voiced by Charles Kimbrough, Jason Alexander, and Mary Wickes, respectively) - Three gargoyle statues who become Quasimodo's close friends and guardians. In the DVD audio commentary for Hunchback, Wise, Trousdale, and Hahn note that the gargoyles might exist only in Quasimodo's imagination and thus may well be split-off pieces of his own identity. **This was Mary Wickes' (Laverne) last film. She died of cancer on 10th October 1995, before the film was released. Jane Withers provided the remaining dialogue, and provided the voice for Laverne in The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. *Djali (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman) is a supporting character. Belligerent and helpful, Djali is extremely loyal to his owner, Esmeralda. He is also marked by a tendency to be sassy and feisty, especially towards Esmeralda's enemies. (For instance, he blows a raspberry at Frollo when Esmeralda calls him (Frollo) a fool. Soon after, headbutts Phoebus multiple times when he is ordered out of the cathedral he "confronted" the goat's owner in.) He appears to be faint-hearted. *The Archdeacon (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) - A kind man who helps many characters throughout the course of the movie, including Esmeralda. He is the opposite of Frollo: kind, accepting, gentle, and wise. He is the only figure in the film with authority over Frollo while he is inside Notre Dame. He appears at the beginning of the movie when he orders Frollo to adopt Quasimodo for killing his mother. He disapproves of most of Frollo's actions, and at the film's climax, Frollo, in his rage, openly defies him and knocks him down a flight of stairs. *Animation supervisers: **James Baxter (Quasimodo) **Tony Fucile (Esmeralda) **Kathy Zielinski (Frollo) **Russ Edmonds (Phoebus) **Michael Surrey (Clopin) **David Pruiksma (Victor and Hugo) **Will Finn (Laverne) **Ron Husband (Djali) **Dave Burgess (Archdeacon) *Art director: David Goetz *Story supervisor: Will Finn *Layout supervisor: Ed Ghertner *Background supervisor: Lisa Keene *Clean-up animation supervisor: Vera Lanpher-Pacheco *Effects animation supervisor: Christopher Jenkins *Computer graphics supervisor: Kiran Bhakta Joshi *Production manager: Patricia Hicks Differences from the original story *In the book, Quasimodo was 16 years old, deaf and had unintelligible speech; in the film, he was 20 years old, not old and quite capable of fluent speech. *In the book, Frollo willingly adopts Quasimodo; in the film, Frollo is made Quasimodo's guardian by the Archdeacon as atonement for murdering Quasimodo's mother. *In the book, Quasimodo is around four years old when Frollo takes him in; in the film, he is an infant. *In the film, Esmeralda was confirmed a gypsy. In the book, she was not born a gypsy and was born to a recluse. *In the film, Esmeralda saves Quasimodo and Phoebus from being hanged in the Court of Miracles. In the book, she saves a man named Pierre Gringoire. *In the book, Phoebus was an untrustworthy womanizer. He was much kinder and friendlier to Quasimodo and Esmeralda in the film. *In the book, Esmeralda was 16 years old. In the film she appears to be much older, perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties. *In the book, Frollo successfully killed Esmeralda. In the film, Quasimodo rescues her from being burned at the stake. *In the novel, Quasimodo committed suicide after Esmeralda and Frollo died. He found Esmeralda's dead body and clutched it until he starved to death. *In the film, Frollo was a judge, was archenemies with the archdeacon, was racist, and named Quasimodo after his disfigurement. In the book, Frollo was the archdeacon, had more sympathy and compassion and named Quasimodo after Quasimodo Sunday. *In the book, Esmeralda was sentenced to be hanged. In the film, she was nearly burned at the stake. *The talking gargoyles do not appear in the book. *Gringoire, Fleur-de-Lys, Paquette and Jehan Frollo do not appear in the movie. *In the book, Frollo was thrown off the cathedral by Quasimodo after Esmeralda's death. In the film, the gargoyle on which he was standing broke, and he fell into the pit of molten lead (that Quasi and the gargoyles poured earlier) while trying to murder both Quasimodo and Esmeralda. *In the book, Phoebus tried to seduce Esmeralda, was stabbed by Frollo (who blamed Esmeralda for it), but survived, and instead of claiming Esmeralda's innocence, he married a woman named Fleur-de-Lys. In the film, he truly loved Esmeralda, and later married her in the sequel, having a son (Zephyr) with her. *In the book, Esmeralda does not like Quasimodo instantly. *In the book, Frollo tried to rape Esmeralda when she hides in the bell tower, but Quasimodo picks Frollo, and slammed him against the wall. While in the movie this isn't stated outright (being a family film), there are several noticeable hints that Frollo lusts for Esmeralda and that the only thing that keeps him from acting on that lust is his nature as a religious fundamentalist. *In the book, Quasimodo have Esmeralda a high pitched whistle, one of the few things that Quasimodo can hear; this does not appear in the film. *In the book, Clopin leads his Gypsies in an attack below Notre Dame, using a scythe to fight and singing gleefully, until he is shot and killed with an arquebus (an early gun); in the film, Clopin is mostly absent from the final battle, only seen leaping out of his cage with Djali and the other Gypsies when the townspeople free them; he survives the battle and provides the closing narration/reprise. Production Development The idea to adapt The Hunchback of Notre Dame came development executive David Stainton in 1993, who was inspired to turn Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame into an animated feature film after reading the Classics Illustrated comic book adaptation. Stainton then proposed the idea to then-studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. Following Beauty and the Beast, Gary Trousdale had taken the opportunity to take a break from directing, instead spending several months developing storyboards for The Lion King. Following this, Trousdale and Kirk Wise subsequently attempted developing an animated feature based on the Greek myth of Orpheus titled A Song of the Sea, adapting it to make the central character a humpback whale and setting it in the open ocean. The concept obstinately refused to pull together, but while they were working on the project they were summoned to meet with Katzenberg. "During that time," explained Trousdale, "while we were working on it, we got a call from Jeffrey. He said, 'Guys, drop everything - you're working on Hunchback now.'" Release Awards Allusions Home video Other media Gallery Trivia Category:Films